Getting 15 mo to drink anything at all during the day

[sjcmum]

Help! Any suggestions? My 15 mo dd hardly drinks anything during the day. She has never taken a bottle, will have v.small amounts from a lidded or open cup, but hardly any. Certainly nowhere near the amount of milk recomended for that age.

She still has a breast feed at bed time and one when she wakes up - and I'm hoping to stop feeding her soon-ish - but am wary of doing so when I worry she wouldn't get enough milk. Should I just go cold turkey in the hope that she'll start drinking more milk during the day?

My 15 month old also hardly drank from a beaker until recently. I did worry about him getting enough liquids. We just kept trying with different beakers, and eventually he got the hang of it. He has water in a beaker, and formula in a bottle if I'm not there.

I would say though, that as we co-sleep, my DS still dream feeds throughout the night, and so this helped allay my fears over dehydration. If it really was only once in the morning and once at night I would have worried more.

Personally I would be very wary of going cold turkey though! You have a method of giving her liquid which is working! I would wait until she's got the hang of another before cutting this one off!

Is it only milk, or all liquids?

Keep in mind that you get liquids from solids, so if your DD is eating well, then she will be getting some liquids via the things she eats.

Things to try:
Straw (small straw or regular straw cut smaller)
Icecube
Breakfast - use lots of milk, so for example wheatabix with lots of milk - the wheatabix will absorb loads of milk.

I wouldn't stop the breast feeding unless it is something you really want to stop doing.

Is she losing weight? If not, then try not to worry too much.

It's any liquids really - she'll have small sips and if possible have them from my glass rather than her own cup - but no way enough to keep her going. She does have a lot of fruit, and I make sure there are liquids in other food etc - but it's the calcium content in the milk that I'm also worried about as they are supposed to have the equivalent of a pint a day I think aren't they? Will carry on breastfeeding for now, as definitely still something she wants..... just would be nice to have a night/morning off sometime soon....